Howes Percival and Milton Keynes College hosted an event to officially launch the “TeenTech Cities: Milton Keynes Festival” to businesses and organisations from all along the Cambridge-Milton Keynes-Oxford corridor and explain how they can get involved.

TeenTech is a not-for-profit company which helps young people, regardless of their background or gender, understand the many career opportunities available to them in contemporary industries. It was founded in 2008 by BBC Tomorrow’s World presenter, Maggie Philbin OBE and Chris Dodson.

TeenTech Milton Keynes, which will be held on 11 July 2019, is an initiative supported by Milton Keynes College and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and will be open to children from participating schools from all along the Cambridge – MK – Oxford area to attend. By fostering relationships between schools and businesses, the Festival aims to inform and excite young people about possible careers in science, engineering and technology.

More than thirty businesses and organisations, including tech companies, government organisations, universities and professional service businesses, attended the launch event at Grant Thornton’s Avebury Boulevard offices in Milton Keynes. Guest speaker, Maggie Philbin OBE explained how TeenTech makes the world of science and technology come to life for young people by bringing companies and schools together and the larger impact the day and the ambassadors can have. In her speech, she also outlined the opportunities for businesses to support the TeenTech Festival through sponsorship, volunteering and becoming an ambassador for TeenTech.

Howes Percival will support MK College as the local TeenTech delivery partner and sit alongside it on the steering committee for the event. The firm has offices in Milton Keynes, Northampton and Cambridge and has been closely associated with the Growth Corridor, setting up the website EastWestCorridor.co.uk as a dedicated information hub for individuals and organisations interested in or impacted by the Growth Corridor proposals.

Lisa Mantle, a Partner at Howes Percival said, “We are absolutely thrilled that TeenTech is coming to Milton Keynes and the response from everyone at the launch was fantastic. TeenTech is a great opportunity to reach out to the next generation of possible scientists and engineers or digital and technology leader and show them what STEM, particularly in this enlarged region, can offer them. The East-West Corridor is already a nationally recognised centre for innovation, but we need to engage students with the future vision for the area and demonstrate how organisations can help young people develop their career here. These students are the generation for whom the Growth Corridor strategy is being devised and events like TeenTech: City of Tomorrow is a great opportunity for young people to show Government their vision for their future.

“We are looking for ambassadors and sponsors of all shapes and sizes to step forward and help make this an event that students will never forget. We need to secure sponsorship to pay for the day but are not just looking for big sponsorship packages from large national companies, we need the SMEs to get involved too. A small donation could make the difference for some schools between being able to hire a coach to get the children here for the day, or not. We need your time and your enthusiasm too. So, if you are passionate about STEM and want to be part of the vision for the Growth Corridor, we want to hear from you.”

Commenting on the launch event, Maggie Philbin OBE, and TeenTech CEO said, “I’m really excited about bringing TeenTech to Milton Keynes later this year and working with so many brilliant businesses and organisations to help spread the word across the whole Oxford-Milton Keynes-Cambridge corridor. This is such a unique and special region for science, technology and engineering, which gives us a tremendous opportunity to inspire the next generation. The launch was fantastic and the enthusiasm in the room was clear to see. It gives us a solid platform to build on as we start talking to companies about the different ways they can get involved and make this the best TeenTech yet!”